Police search an area on Friday near the scene where Nahid Almanea was murdered on Salary Brook Trail in Colchester.

The 19-year-old man, from Colchester, was initially arrested shortly after midnight today for a separate offence of assault.

It followed a report from a female jogger that a man tried to grab her near Peache Road, Colchester at around 10pm last night.

She was able to fight him off and made her way home where she immediately contacted police, who searched the area and arrested the man.

Following further enquiries he was then re-arrested shortly after 4pm today in connection with the murder investigation.

Officers have today continued to search the area where Ms Almanea, 31, was found murdered in Colchester earlier this week.

The Essex University student was found on the Salary Brook Trail behind Britten Close, Greenstead, at 10.40am on Tuesday having been stabbed 16 times to the head, upper body and arms. Efforts by paramedics to save her proved unsuccessful and she was declared dead at the scene.

Ms Almanea, of Woodrow Way, Greenstead, was a Saudi Arabian national. A memorial service was held on the university campus today, organised by the Islamic Society.

Yesterday forensic teams intensified searches around the footpath where she was found in a bid to find the murder weapon, believed to have been a knife or similar bladed weapon.

Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Worron said: “The investigation into this crime is a top priority for Essex Police at this time. Detectives, specialist search teams, dog handlers, uniformed officers, and numerous other resources are being dedicated to it.

“We are working hard to gather all available forensic evidence from the scene and this will undoubtedly open up new lines of enquiry.”

The latest crime figures for Colchester were published yesterday ahead of a public meeting with Essex Police and Crime Commissioner Nick Alston.

Wednesday’s meeting had already been planned ahead of the latest Colchester murder, the second in three months, and the public will have the chance to put questions to Mr Alston and district commander Chief Inspector Richard Phillibrown.

A briefing document reveals that from May 1 2013 to April 30 this year, compared to the same period a year earlier, there has been an almost 15% increase in serious violent crime with 12 more offences, while serious sexual crime has gone up by 44% with 61 more offences.

Overall crime has increased by 0.7%, or 73 offences, while the report says the majority of sexual offences are committed by someone known to the victim.

The meeting takes place from 6.30-8.30pm on Wednesday June 25 in Swinburne Hall, at the Colchester Institute, Sheepen Road, Colchester.